The Isaac Bashevis Singer Centennial Celebration, including publication of Isaac Bashevis Singer: Collected Stories and development of this website, is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. NEH is an independent grant-making agency of the United States government dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.
The Library of America is an independent nonprofit organization that helps to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing authoritative editions of America's best and most significant writing. With seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, The Library of America was created in 1979 and has since become generally recognized as the national edition of our country's literature. Winner of many awards over the years, the series now includes 140 volumes, from Robert Frost and Tennessee Williams to Thomas Jefferson and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as anthologies of poetry, war reporting, sermons, crime fiction, and other genres. A total of 300,000 volumes are sold each year in bookstores and by subscription; almost 6 million copies have been sold since 1982. Max Rudin, Publisher of The Library of America, is Centennial Director.
The following people are advisors to the project:
Humanities Advisors
Ilan Stavans, Harold Augenbraum, Morris Dickstein
Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, Jules Chametzky, Jeremy Dauber, Janet Hadda, Steven G. Kellman, Aaron Lansky, Jonathan Rosen, David G. Roskies, Kenneth Turan, Ruth Wisse, Seth L. Wolitz.
Honorary Advisors
Jonathan Galassi, Robert Lescher, Roger Straus.
The following organizations are Centennial Partners:
The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin contains one of the world's foremost cultural archives, housing 36 million literary manuscripts, one million rare books, five million photographs, and over 100,000 works of art and design. Highlights of the vast collections include the Gutenberg Bible, the first photograph, important paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and major manuscripts of Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Isaac Bashevis Singer, T.S. Eliot, and Tennessee Williams.
The National Yiddish Book Center is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen Jewish identity by preserving Yiddish and other modern Jewish books and furthering understanding of the culture they contain. Since its founding in 1980, the Center has recovered more than 1.5 million Yiddish volumes, and has drawn upon its vast duplicate holdings to establish or augment Yiddish collections in more than 450 libraries in 26 countries. Supported by more than 30,000 members, the National Yiddish Book Center is one of the largest and fastest growing Jewish cultural organizations in America.
The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 64,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information. ALA offers professional services and publications to members and nonmembers. The mission of the ALA Public Programs Office is to foster cultural programming as an integral part of library service in all types of libraries.
The Mercantile Library of New York is a 183-year-old membership library whose collection and programming focus exclusively on fiction and related non-fiction.
Since 1939, The Unterberg Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y has presented readings by the world's greatest writers in every genre. Isaac Bashevis Singer was a regular feature of poetry center readings and events, presenting his work both in Yiddish as well as English translation.
The Skirball Cultural Center, dedicated to exploring the connections between four thousand years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals, presents public programs that explore the literary, visual, and performing arts from around the world; displays and interprets its permanent and changing exhibitions; and welcomes people of every ethnic and cultural identity.
At the heart of New York City's famed Museum Mile, The Jewish Museum is the preeminent U.S. institution exploring the intersection of 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture. The Museum is admired widely for its exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all backgrounds.
Florida Atlantic University, located in Boca Raton, has one of the larger Judaica collections in the state of Florida and has particular strength in Yiddish materials, from 19th century European publications, early American sheet music. The Singer collection was gathered from two principal sources: Ms. Jean Weisser, a great patron of the Judaica collection, purchased and donated furnishings from his Manhattan apartment, and a local volunteer, Gordon Weel, collected books and manuscripts from the materials bequeathed to Singer's private nurse, who retired in Surfside, Florida. The University houses several of the awards and honorary degrees conferred on Singer, as well as his daybook, correspondence, and other personal materials.
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art is the first full-scale museum in America devoted to national and international picture book art, conceived and built with the aim of celebrating the art that we are first exposed to as children. Through the exploration of images that are familiar and beloved, it the Museum's goal to foster connections between visual and verbal literacy and to provide visitors of all ages and backgrounds with the confidence to appreciate and enjoy art of every kind.
Symphony Space is America's only community-based arts organization with a nationwide audience. Since its founding in 1978 in an abandoned movie theater, Symphony Space has become known for producing and presenting free and low-cost programs that represent the cultures of New York City in all their variety. It showcases the performing arts and literature at their liveliest and most accessible, and builds each season around a diverse array of presentations, ranging from an annual Bloomsday tribute on June 16 to its repertory film series and adult literacy outreach program. Symphony Space programs reach the rest of the country through local and National Public Radio broadcasts of literary and musical events.
The Eldridge Street Synagogue was completed in 1887 and is the first building designed and built to be a synagogue by the Jews from Eastern Europe. The not-for-profit Eldridge Street Project is restoring the landmark synagogue as the focal point of a Jewish heritage center for the 21st century.